


the stars, the moon (they have all been blown out)

by parchmints



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Amortentia, Best Friends, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, One Shot, POV Keith (Voltron), Patronus, Pining Keith (Voltron), Room of Requirement, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, beater keith, chaser lance, gryffindor klance, liberal use of the room of requirement, patronus reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 08:18:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13923108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parchmints/pseuds/parchmints
Summary: On the night before Lance and Keith graduate from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they decide to sneak out one last time to the astronomy tower.orKeith tries to find the courage to tell his best friend he's in love with him.[[Updated with art and Russian translation!!]]





	the stars, the moon (they have all been blown out)

**Author's Note:**

> you can pry gryffindor klance from my cold, dead hands 
> 
> also pls don't question why they're in a british wizarding school they just are jsadfjkas
> 
> UPDATE: Hey! Guess what?? This fic is now available in Russian and you can read it [here](https://ficbook.net/readfic/7172257/18278381)!

**the stars, the moon (they have all been blown out)**

“I swear to god, Lance if we get expelled the _night_ before we graduate...”

“ _Re-lax_ , Keith. I think the last person who got expelled from Hogwarts literally committed murder. We’re fine.”

Keith frowned at Lance as they both pressed their backs against a cold, stone wall in the astronomy corridor and checked over their shoulders for patrolling professors.

“Why is that not comforting?”

“Like you can talk,” Lance said in a fierce whisper as he craned his neck around the corner to check if the hallway was clear.  “You’re the one always dragging me out of bed in the middle of the night, so shut your quiznak.”

Okay, that was fair.

In all honesty, Keith was an enthusiastic participant in their little night excursion, but the temptation to needle Lance was always too strong and Keith was a weak man.

“Yeah, but not the night before we _graduate_.”

Lance turned to look at Keith and rolled his eyes at him. “We have to sneak out tonight _because_ it’s the night before we graduate. Don’t act like you don’t want to go up to the astronomy tower one last time.”

Keith couldn’t find it in himself to disagree because yes, of course, he wanted to see the astronomy tower one last time--it was _their_ spot, after all. Keith wasn’t much for nostalgia, but he found himself making an exception for the astronomy tower.

Though, if Keith was honest, he had ulterior motives for agreeing to see the astronomy tower and he internally cringed at how cliché those motives were.

Because, of course, Keith decided to wait until the very last minute to tell Lance he was in love with him.

He’d been planning to all week, but he could never find the right opportunity and all that Gryffindor nerve abandoned him. He had resigned himself to do it, but he could never find the right moment. He tried after they won their second Quidditch Cup, but with all the celebrating and their housemates pulling them every which way, Keith barely even saw Lance that night. So, when Lance brought up sneaking off to the astronomy tower to stargaze one last time, Keith knew that it was the universe giving him a sign.

“Whatever Lance, just don’t go crashing into another suit of armor and get us caught.”

“That was _one_ time!”

“Shh!”

Lance’s eyes widened as he slapped a hand over his mouth and Keith glared at him. Lance’s big mouth was accountable for at least 80% of all the detentions they served together over the years.

Composing himself, Lance took one last look down the hallway and waved at Keith to follow him. Lance rushed down the hallway with Keith trailing behind until they reached the door to the astronomy reading room.

There was something so familiar, yet exhilarating about sneaking out of the Gryffindor common room with Lance. It was like a routine they had perfected over seven years of practice, but Keith still got an adrenaline rush every time. By the time they were fifth-years they’d gotten the hang of it, but they averaged one detention every week in their underclassmen years.

It was odd thinking of how they were back then. During first year, Lance hated Keith with an unaccountable amount of fiery passion and would pick fights with him for seemingly no reason. They found themselves at each other’s throats almost every day and at some point, Coran, their transfiguration professor, gave them detention and deducted ten points from Gryffindor each for distracting the class (and for possibly being the indirect cause of a poor Ravenclaw girl’s robes catching fire).

The detention had turned out to be one terrifying night helping the Groundskeeper and Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Gyrgan, extract venom from a couple of dead acromantulas for the school’s potions stock. Since acromantulas were literally giant, flesh-eating spiders the detention was an actual nightmare and it may have lead to Lance and Keith clinging to each other in paralyzing fear.

The experience softened their relationship considerably because well--there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and nearly being devoured by a hoard of giant tarantulas was one of them.

They even started hanging out sometimes and “sometimes” quickly evolved to “all the time” as they got to know each other better. By third year, neither was ashamed of calling the other “best friend” and they were decidedly viewed as a pair.

Lance opened the door to the astronomy reading room, took a quick scan of the area, and motioned for Keith to follow him. With light feet, they made their way across the rows of bookshelves that crowded the high-ceiling room and scanned for any signs of trouble. “Trouble” usually presented itself as the Unilu poltergeist, who loved mayhem and mischief in all its forms, or Narti and her cat, Kova. Bumping into either while sneaking out was a surefire way of getting detention and points off your house, which was something Keith and Lance were all too familiar with.

Much to the woe of their fellow Gryffindors, Lance and Keith’s hijinks usually took their house out of the running for the House Cup most years. Luckily, being star quidditch players kept them from being hated amongst their housemates, especially since they were the main reason Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup the past two years running.

“Okay, all clear,” Lance whispered, patting Keith’s shoulder blade before taking off to the door that led to the astronomy stairwell. The light touch shot a bolt of lightning through Keith’s system, the way it always did whenever Lance touched him, which was often since, much to Keith’s dismay, Lance was a physically affectionate person. He had no qualms with leaning on Keith while they hung out with friends or hugging him when they had a good quidditch practice. It wasn’t that Keith disliked the contact--on the contrary, it was that he liked it too much, but with every friendly brush or embrace, Keith’s hopes got higher and that was scarier than all the flesh-eating acromantulas in the world combined.

Keith rid himself of the lingering fuzzy feelings with a small shake and focused back on the door to that lead to the astronomy tower’s spiral staircase. Lance stopped before opening the door and flashed Keith a frustratingly attractive smirk before gesturing to the door.

“Brawn before beauty,” Lance said waving a palm to Keith then himself in a dramatic flourish. Out of habit, Keith rolled his eyes.

“So, you’re finally admitting I’m the stronger one?”

“What can I say?” Lance asked with a wink that sent blood rushing to Keith’s cheeks. “You’ve got beater arms and I’ve always been the pretty one.”

Keith swallowed the impulse to shoot back “well, at least you got that right” and instead said, “Yeah, the pretty annoying one. Either move or open the door.”

Ignoring the jab, Lance moved with a swift, dramatic movement to clear the way for Keith because, of course, Lance had to make a big deal out of _everything_. Keith huffed and pulled on the rusted iron door handle, opening the heavy wooden door that moaned like it was from a haunted house.

The howling of the door hinges was followed by the sharp sound of a hiss and a low, rumbling growl. Keith’s eyes whipped downwards and standing there, with an arched back and bared teeth was--

“Kova!” said Lance in a whisper so loud it barely qualified as a whisper anymore, and then reached out to grab Keith’s bicep in reflex.

Keith was the first to react. He pushed Lance towards the entrance of the astronomy reading room and ordered him to “go, go, go!”, snapping Lance from his shocked state.

They took off running back to the Astronomy corridor and Keith’s heart was beating wildly in his chest. Being found by Kova was _bad_ because it usually meant Narti wasn’t far behind. Narti may have been physically blind, but the strange bond she shared with her cat gave her more sight than any of the students and most of the professors. They worked as a team to catch students out of bed and now that Kova knew students were sneaking around, Narti did too.

“Oh, man, this is _not good_ , Keith.”

“Shut up! Just head to the common room.”

Since the Gryffindors made home in one of the towers, they weren’t very far from the Fat Lady, but Narti could have been anywhere.    

This wasn’t exactly the first time they had been on the run from Narti. It happened fairly often over the years and with varying degrees of success on their side. Narti and Kova had the element of surprise on their side, but Keith and Lance were fast, so it evened out.

Running down the halls to the seventh floor corridor, it reminded Keith of the first time he snuck out to the astronomy tower with Lance. Well, “with Lance” was being generous. It was more like Keith followed Lance to the astronomy tower in third year.

For the majority of that year, Keith noticed that there were many nights Lance just _wasn’t_ in his four-poster bed like the rest of the third-year boys. He didn’t tell anyone and he doubted anyone else knew since it happened in the dead of night when they all should have been sleeping, but it troubled him. He tried to ask Lance if everything was okay, but Lance just smiled, said he was fine, and carried on with his day.

It wasn’t until he saw Lance actually leave his bed that Keith got any answers. He followed closely behind Lance out of Gryffindor tower--his curiosity too persistent to even care that he could get into trouble--and was careful not to let Lance become aware of his presence.

He stalked behind Lance all the way up top of the tower to the open-air astronomy “classroom” where he was leaning his forearms on one of the ramparts and looking up at the sky.

Keith remembered approaching Lance slowly, the night air cool and still, and when Lance turned to face him, he didn’t even look surprised by the intrusion. It was pretty easy for Lance to come clean after that.

 

 _“I guess...I just miss_ home _,” he had said, with a sad softness in his eyes that Keith hadn’t seen before. “I went back over the summer and my baby nephew, Hilario, was_ so _much bigger. I barely recognized him, y’know?”_

_“Yeah,” Keith said, even though he really didn’t know. He had no nieces or nephews, nor any brothers or sisters to supply him with any._

_“I just feel like I’m_ missing _it, but I also want to be here. So, I dunno, my family and I liked to stargaze on camping trips and stuff, and this just makes me feel a little less alone I guess.”_

 

After that, there was an unspoken agreement between them that they never went to the tower alone. They somehow both understood that “let’s go to the astronomy tower tonight” meant “I feel alone” and being underneath the stars together seemed to help.

Looking back, Keith wondered if that was when he started to love Lance, but he just didn’t notice because he thought those confusing feelings in his stomach were how people felt about _best_ friends, instead of normal ones. At some point, he started to get the message, but it took a long, grueling battle within himself to get to that place.

They rounded the corner down the next hallway and Keith looked over his shoulder to check for Kova, but she was nowhere to be found.

 _We might just get away with this_ , he thought, but it brought him no joy. If they made it back to Gryffindor tower, then all of his plans would be ruined. They probably already were.

They sprinted forward, their steps effortlessly in time with each other after their years of experience dodging Narti, and as they approached their next turn they stopped to cover themselves at the corner.

Keith angled himself against the stone wall to see down the next hallway while still staying hidden as Lance did the same. Keith heard a small gasp catch in Lance’s throat as they both saw Narti patrolling the corridor--the corridor that led _right_ to Gryffindor tower.

Keith cursed under his breath and tried to come up with a plan, because if they didn’t act soon they were going to get caught and Keith was sure that would destroy his chances at confessing, so he looked up and down the corridor for anything that could help them.

With a sudden clarity, he remembered something Pidge, their friend in Slytherin, had told him a week ago.

_“Apparently, there’s a room that turns into whatever you need in the left corridor of the seventh floor. I’m gonna check it out sometime this week.”_

Merlin, if that was true…

The left corridor was close, really close and in the opposite direction of Narti, so Keith decided it was worth a shot.

Without thinking too much about it, Keith grabbed Lance’s hand and tugged him down the hallway towards the left corridor. Lance, a little surprised at first, followed willingly and tightened his grip on Keith’s hand, and if anybody asked, Keith would say that his heart rate’s sudden spike was because of the adrenaline.

Keith, with Lance _literally_ in hand, tore down the hallway and looked for a door, passageway, gargoyle, _anything_ that might lead to this elusive Room of Requirement.

“ _Keith_ , where are we going?” Lance asked, his voice still toeing the line of a whisper, but Keith hushed him again.

 _I need a place to take Lance_ , he thought, approaching a dead end with no sight of a secret room anywhere.

He doubled back, desperate to find _something_ in the walls and going so far as to brush his hand against one to look for irregularities, but found nothing. He let out a low growl from the back of his throat in frustration.

“ _Keith_.”

“Just! Give me a second,” Keith hissed out, while continuing to drag Lance up and down the corridor.

 _I need a place to take him, to_ tell _him_ , he thought, his grip tightening on Lance’s warm hand a fraction.

This wasn’t how the night was supposed to go. Of course, Keith knew that if you sneaked out after hours in a place like Hogwarts castle, you could never really count on your plans, but Keith still hoped the night would follow his basic outline. Maybe it was because outlines weren’t really his thing, but he felt like he needed _some_ kind of strategy since Lance deserved a confession with thought put into it. Keith knew Lance and he knew Lance would just eat up a big, romantic gesture, even if he didn’t feel the same way as the other party.

It was a small comfort, but Keith knew if...if things didn’t go his way, that no matter what, Lance would take the memory and cherish it--tuck it snug next to his heart and never take it for granted. That was just the kind of person Lance was--someone who found the good in a bad situation and appreciated the courage it took to say something so hard.

Aware that his plans might fall through, Keith decided to keep it simple. So simple, in fact, it was a wonder how it could have gotten off course so spectacularly since the plan only had two steps:

 

  1. Take Lance to the astronomy tower
  2. Show Lance his patronus



 

And well, Keith had failed step one. All was not lost, however. Keith didn’t _need_ the astronomy tower to show Lance his patronus, but the astronomy tower would have sealed the deal on the whole big, romantic gesture thing. Keith’s patronus was the real key to the plan, so if he could just get Lance somewhere they could talk without worry of anyone barging in, he’d be set.

Keith’s stomach lurched at the thought of showing Lance his patronus. Lance had been there when he first conjured it two years ago, but Keith hadn’t let him see it in over a year now.

 

When Lance and Keith were in their fifth year, their favorite professor, Professor Shirogane--or “Shiro”, as he liked to be called--introduced them to the patronus charm in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was the hardest spell either of them had ever tried to cast, but they both became obsessed with finding out what form their corporeal patronuses would take. Lance would joke that Keith’s was probably a sewer rat, while Keith theorized Lance’s was a dung beetle, so, naturally, it became a competition to find out who had the coolest one.

Shiro only required them to produce uncorporeal patronuses for class, but when Lance and Keith came to his office hours and asked for coaching he was more than happy to oblige.

Lance was the first one to succeed, which really wasn’t a surprise, as he had a larger pool of happy memories to pull from than Keith did. Keith remembered watching the animal spring from Lance’s wand and forming delicately in a bundle of thick, silvery smoke in front of them, but more than that, Keith remembered Lance’s bright eyes and excited smile at seeing it for the first time.

 _“Whoa, cool! You seein’ this Keith? It’s a_ Sea Lion! _” Lance had boasted and Keith couldn’t help but smile back._

 _“Yeah, they’re super loud and annoying, just like you_. _”_

Keith was very glad Shiro was in the room at the time because if he wasn’t, Keith was sure Lance would have sent him one of his potent pus-squirting hexes. Still, they celebrated and Keith congratulated Lance on a job well done.

A couple sessions later, after Keith finally, _finally_ found a happy enough memory--Lance calling Keith his “best friend” for the first time--he managed it. His patronus took the shape of a red wolf, a somewhat scrappier animal than their gray wolf cousins, and Lance groaned when he realized he lost the coolest patronus contest. Though, he would always argue sea lions were fierce hunters and strong swimmers (“making them awesome!”) there was just no beating a _wolf_ as a patronus.    

Then, once they had gotten the knack of making corporeal patronuses, they used them to send each other dumb messages when they were across campus from each other. The sight of Lance’s happy, twirling sea lion coming towards him almost thrilled Keith as much as Lance’s own presence did and, much to their professors' chagrin, they sent these messages constantly.

This lasted for a full year and annoyed their housemates to no end, but abruptly, at the end of their sixth year, they stopped. Well, Keith’s stopped.

Because Keith’s patronus had transformed from his steely, composed red wolf to that of a dancing sea lion--the same as Lance. To keep his secret, Keith had to stop sending patronus messages to Lance and thankfully, Lance never asked for an explanation, and they hadn’t seen each other’s patronuses since.

 

As they continued to search the corridor, Keith repeated the same phrase over and over again in his mind.

 

_I need a place to take Lance. I need a place to tell him._

 

They went up-and-down the corridor again and Keith was just about to throw in the towel, when miraculously, at the end of the hallway, something started to appear on one of the empty walls. It started out slow at first, just a couple of black splotches staining the wall until eventually, a full, iron-casted double door materialized onto the hard stone as if it had been there for centuries.

“ _Whoa,_ dude,” Lance started, “where did that _come_ from?”

Keith just sent him a smirk that meant trouble and pulled him down the hall. Keith grabbed one of the metal handles and pulled the door open, careful to open it slowly to quiet any creaks it could make. Still clinging to Keith’s hand, Lance slipped through the thin opening Keith made and pulled Keith along with him. Gently, Keith shut the door behind him, still wary of any sound that might come from the old-looking door.

Panting and a little hot under their v-neck Gryffindor sweaters, Keith and Lance allowed each other a quick smile before they both looked down at their hands and realized they were still clasped. They retracted their hands as if they’d shocked each other with static electricity and opted to look at the inside of the room instead of at each other.

The room was dark save for several scattered, enchanted candles that delicately floated along the walls and corners and hovered like fireflies over a meadow on a summer evening. In the center of the room was a large pile of soft-looking cushions and blankets that instantly made Keith stomach turn in nervous knots. What had he done? Why had the room conjured _this_?

“Keith. Keith, what _is_ this place?” Lance asked stepping further into the room and looking around. “Some sort of seance room or--”

Lance gasped as he looked up at the ceiling, and stopped in his tracks.

“What is it?” Keith asked, stepping next to Lance. He followed Lance’s gaze up to the ceiling, but his eyes found no ceiling at all. Instead, Keith found a new moon sky with millions of glittering stars shining down on them in the place of where a ceiling should be. As a couple of meteors whizzed by above, Keith realized the ceiling must have been enchanted.

It was an incredible piece of magic. It looked so _real_ , like the room simply didn’t have a ceiling and they were just looking at the sky, but there was no outdoor chill and the view was almost _too_ clear. It was like they were so much closer to the stratosphere than they’d ever been up on the astronomy tower--like they were perched on a cloud with the best view of the stars in the whole world.

Lance’s breath caught in his throat and Keith let his eyes wander over to Lance’s profile. He was smiling a soft, sincere smile with eyes blown wide in awe as he took in the incredible sight. The candles and the very faint light from the stars above decorated the slopes and curves of Lance’s face with shadows that made liquid warmth spread over Keith’s chest.

It was a familiar warmth; one that Keith knew whenever he looked at Lance for too long, but tonight it made him ache from the bottom of his rib cage and filled him such raw affection that Keith thought he might burst at the seams from the sheer quantity of it.

It was a feeling he knew would kill him if he tried to keep it caged; it was a feeling with wings that needed to fly.

 _You need to be brave_ , Keith thought. A tremble went through him as he slowly looked back up at the stars and hoped they would give him the courage he needed.

 

It had taken an astounding amount of bravery just to admit that his feelings for Lance went beyond friendship. It happened at the very beginning of sixth year--though in hindsight Keith knew the feelings had been festering for far longer than that--when their potions professor was teaching them about Amortentia: the world’s strongest love potion.

It wasn’t really a _love_ potion, of course. No potion could ever replicate true, unyielding love, but it made the drinker infatuated with whoever administered it. It was an odd potion as well, because the mere smell of it differed from person-to-person and revealed what they found most attractive.

As the pearl-colored potion emitted it’s spiraling steam, the entire class breathed in its intoxicating aroma and Keith smelled the distinct scents of sunscreen, ocean air, and a third, clean scent that was very familiar, but Keith couldn’t place.

He placed it that evening, however, when Lance came out of the bath and passed him by to get ready for bed. The smell of Lance’s freshly showered hair hit him like the Hogwarts Express on September 1st and he nearly dropped his toothbrush at the revelation. As Lance continued to dry his hair with his fluffy white towel, Keith could only stare at his back in shock as he slowly recognized the significance of smelling Lance’s hair amongst the scents in Amortentia.

That night he had tossed and turned trying to convince himself it didn’t mean what he thought it meant, but his mind wouldn’t let him sleep until he finally, _finally_ admitted that he _maybe_ had a crush on his best friend.

Things only escalated from there.

 

Keith took a deep breath and turned towards Lance, but as he was about to speak, Lance took off running and star-fished into the fluffy nest of pillows in the center of the room. Keith glared at his back until he flopped over to smile at Keith from the floor.

“This place is _awesome_! I can’t believe we didn’t find it until our last night here,” Lance said, dramatically draping an arm over his eyes. “What a waste!”

“Apparently it only exists when you really need something and then takes form based on that. Pidge was telling me about it.”

“When you really need something?”

“Yeah, like we needed a place to hide so…” Keith trailed off, gesturing to the room. At that, Lance sat up and looked at Keith with his face scrunched in thought. “What?”

“Nothing. Just...if we just needed a place to hide then why did the room turn into like, an observatory?” Lance asked with a tilt of his head.

For a moment, Keith froze. There was something so weighted about the question and Keith knew if he wasn’t careful, the answer could give him away.

 _But isn’t that the whole point?_ Keith asked himself. Lance was staring up at Keith now, patiently awaiting his answer with rapt attention, like it could make or break him.

 _Be brave,_ Keith reminded himself.

With an inhale, Keith straightened his back and walked across the room to sit next to Lance on the cushions. Keith wasn’t looking at him, but he could feel Lance’s eyes on him.

“I just thought ‘I need a place to take Lance’ over and over until the room appeared.”

Silence filled the room for several beats until Keith couldn’t stand it anymore and he had to look at Lance. With his stomach twisting into knots, Keith watched as Lance’s surprised expression melted into a kind, genuine smile that rivaled the radiance of the stars overhead.

“So, it knew that we wanted to stargaze tonight? And it gave us a place to do that?” Lance asked, his smile growing brighter and Keith’s stomach swooped.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess it did,” Keith said, licking his lips for want of something to do before his eyes locked onto Lance’s--soft and blue and infinite.

For once, Lance seemed to be at a loss for words and they found themselves stuck in a heavy silence that lasted for several long, weighted beats. Lance looked at him with a question in his eyes and Keith felt himself being crushed by the words he was leaving unsaid between them. Unable to speak, Keith kept himself impossibly still until Lance broke the spell by laying on his back with his hands tucked underneath his neck.

Torn from his reverie, Keith looked down at Lance’s relaxed pose and decided to join him. The cushions beneath him were plush and comfortable, and Keith did his best to relax into them, but it was hard when he was now suddenly aware of how close they were to each other. With some difficulty, Keith forced himself to breathe deeply to ease some of the tension creeping into his shoulders and neck.

“It’s kinda weird, huh?” Lance asked. “It’s not _actually_ the sky, but it’s almost better, y’know?”

“Mm-hm.”

The deep breathing was doing nothing for Keith’s nerves. His body was shaking ever so slightly and his stomach just wouldn’t settle. He knew he had to confess soon and he was running out of excuses to put it off. Not to mention, they were lying so close together that Keith could feel the inviting, distracting warmth radiating off of Lance like a fireplace in winter. With the stars hanging above and candles dancing around them, all Keith wanted to do was roll onto his side and slide his arm across Lance’s torso to pull him close.

The image made Keith’s fingers twitch and an impatient impulsiveness rise within him. It would just be _so_ easy. Just one simple, fluid motion and he could hold Lance _for real_ and Lance was such an affectionate person anyway, he’d probably think nothing of it. All Keith had to do was shift his weight and--

And he couldn’t do it.

 _Coward_ , he told himself as his eyes focused on the lovely spattering of stars overhead. For a brief moment, he let his eyes close to center himself.

_You can do this. He’s not gonna hate you for this. You know him better than that._

He repeated the words over again in his mind and willed himself to believe them. The idea of confessing had always been terrifying; there were too many things that could go wrong. Keith worried constantly that Lance would never want to see him again if he knew the truth, but when those thoughts crept into his mind he reminded himself that Lance wasn’t the type of person to do that--Keith wouldn’t have fallen for him if he was.

Slowly, he opened his eyes back up to the constellations, lingered on them for a second, and tilted his head to the side to glance at Lance.

Lance’s face was illuminated by starshine and Keith’s breath caught in his throat.

 _He’s beautiful,_ Keith thought and instantly felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment.

 _Stupid…_ a second voice in Keith’s mind echoed.

 _It’s true though,_ his mind answered and Keith had no counterargument to that because Lance _was_ beautiful and the Room of Requirement was just making that ten times worse. Lance had smooth, clear skin that glowed in the starlight, a beaming smile, and eyes that lit up when he was excited. There wasn’t a better adjective to describe him.

Except now, Lance’s lips were drawn in a frown and his eyes were dull and distant as they gazed at the faux sky. Keith had only seen Lance make such an expression before a handful of times and usually when he was missing his family, which didn’t make sense now because Lance was seeing his family tomorrow.

Worried, Keith sat up and shifted his body to face Lance.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice quiet so as not to disturb the peacefulness of the room. Lance’s eyes widened a fraction and locked onto Keith’s, but a flicker of panic went through them before they softened into something sad and melancholic.

“I just…”

“What?”

Lance sighed and sat up as well, wrapping his arms around his knees and looking off into the distance.

“I think…” he started, pausing to search for his next words, “I think I’m really gonna miss this place.”

“What? Hogwarts?”

“Yeah.”

Lance pressed his cheek against his knee and Keith’s heart clenched within his chest. He hated seeing Lance like this, especially since Keith was never very good at comforting other people. With Lance looking like that though, Keith knew he had to try.

“Well, that’s normal, right? Hunk’s been crying about it all week, so uh...I don’t know what I’m saying, but I guess...it’s kind of inevitable that we would miss it? This has been home for us for seven years so...” Keith trailed off, cringing at himself for rambling. Lance, being as impossibly kind as he was, gave him a small smile that Keith knew meant “thank you” and propped his chin on his knees with a sigh.

“No, I know. It’s just...it won’t be as _easy_ to see certain people anymore after tomorrow, ya know?” Lance asked.

And _of course_ , Keith knew. Keith had been terrified of losing Lance to graduation ever since they became seventh-years. It was so easy to convince himself that Lance would go off and be an incredible Healer at St. Mungo’s and forget all about him, even if Lance had no intention of doing so. It was just one of those things--you’re best friends at Hogwarts but then you go out into the real world and never see each other again. It happens all the time.

The thought had been tearing Keith apart all year. If there was ever someone he didn’t want to grow apart from, it was Lance. For seven years, Lance had been the person he came home to every night (well, him and three other Gryffindor boys), he was the person the hospital wing matron called when Keith got hurt, and he was Keith’s happiest memory. If Keith would have come across a boggart recently, it would have taken the form of an absent Lance.

 _I want to be with him_ , Keith thought, his chest aching with the weight of it. It wasn’t new information, but the looming inevitability of their graduation had upped its urgency. There was action that had to be taken if they were going to stay together, in any capacity, and Keith knew he had to be the one to take the first step. He couldn’t rely on just Lance’s strength for this--he’d done that far too often over the years. This had to come from him.

Resolved to stir the conversation towards their relationship, Keith asked, “Who are you worried you won’t be able to see?”

At this, Lance glanced quickly at Keith before turning his face away completely.

“Well, Pidge still has a couple years here, so we’ll hardly see her at all. Same with the professors. I’m really gonna miss Shiro. And you know, Hunk is taking that apprenticeship with Honeydukes so…”

Keith’s heart hammered in his chest as he noticed the slight tremor in Lance’s voice as he trailed off. Keith could tell Lance was nervous and it was only helping to make Keith _more_ nervous. There was an added tension in the room and it made the air around them stifling.

“Oh…” Keith said, then silently cursed himself for being the worst best friend ever. Some comfort he was. It stirred something in Lance, however, as he straightened and pivoted his body to look at Keith’s face with a determined look in his eyes.

“And you too!” Lance said with a sudden passion that was so definitively him, but still shocked Keith into a wide-eyed expression. “We’re not going to be able to see each other every day like we usually do and over the summer you were always _terrible_ at responding to my owls, so I know you’ll just forget about me and it’s honestly gonna drive me crazy because I--”

Lance’s eyes went wide in surprise as he cut himself off and Keith swore he saw his cheeks darken, but he couldn’t be sure in the low light. Lance looked away from him and Keith could see the tension and panic in his body like he was scared out of his mind--just like Keith.

It hit Keith suddenly that this was it. This was the part where Keith told him.

Keith wasn’t exactly sure what was at the end of Lance’s last sentence, but if Keith had any luck at all, then maybe, just maybe he didn’t have too much to fear.

He stood up abruptly and the motion caused Lance to look up at him with his eyebrows knit in worry. Keith looked down at Lance, trying to keep his expression calm and soft, as he offered both hands to him.

“I need to show you something,” Keith said, his voice so quiet it was a wonder Lance could even hear it.

“Keith--”

“Please? It’s important.”

At that, Lance’s face softened and he nodded. His warm hands wrapped around Keith’s and Keith helped him off the floor, but didn’t let go once Lance was up. His hands stayed lightly touching Lance’s as his thumbs brushed against the other’s knuckles. Keith’s gaze was focused on the red and gold V of Lance’s sweater and he could feel Lance’s eyes on him. With his heart racing faster than a brand new Firebolt, Keith took a deep inhale and looked up into Lance’s blue eyes. They were searching and curious, but soft with the compassionate look Keith rarely saw, but treasured when he did. This was it. This was really, really it.

“Promise you won’t freak out?” Keith asked, his voice smaller than he had ever heard it. Everything was going to be different from now on and it took everything in Keith not to run out of the room to the Forbidden Forest where he could happily be devoured by acromantulas.

Then, Lance’s hands squeezed tighter around Keith’s and he anchored him back to Earth, just like he always did, because that’s who Lance _was_ \--the island when Keith was lost at sea, the weight that kept him from floating away, the roots that kept little pieces of him from scattering in the wind. He was Keith’s rock, his stability, his _home_ , even when he had none.

“Of course,” Lance said, his eyes half-lidded and his voice quiet, but reassuring. It was all Keith needed. The courage was in him now, because Lance was here with him and no matter how hard or scary it was, he could do _anything_ if Lance was with him.

Pulling away from Lance, Keith pulled out his wand from his pocket and thought of his most precious memory.

It _was the end of their sixth year and the Gryffindors were facing off with the Ravenclaws for the Quidditch Cup finals for the first time in decades. The Gryffindors were having their best season in a long time and it was largely in part to Keith and Lance. Keith was a terrifying beater who showed no mercy to the opposing team’s players and Lance was the best chaser in the whole school, scoring more points with the quaffle than any other chaser in any of the houses._

_It had been a long, grueling game as the Ravenclaw beaters did everything they could to knock Lance off his broom, but Keith had taken the defensive position and made it his job to keep Lance safe from their onslaughts. It was a strategy they used often because most of the time, the opposing team’s beaters had it out for Lance, so protecting him from bludgers was an intricate dance they’d worked out between them in countless practices. Lance always made sure to stick with Keith, but Keith knew how to stay out of Lance’s way so he could still score._

_The Ravenclaws were a tough opponent, however. Their keeper was the best in the school and Lance wasn’t landing half as many quaffles as he usually did, so it was really going to come down to their seeker when all was said and done._

_Keith’s prophecy turned out to be true because after three long hours the referee whistle rang and Keith saw their seeker pumping her fist in the air, gold glinting out from behind her fingertips._

_The sight made a victorious yell escape from Keith as the commentator boomed overhead “Gryffindor has caught the snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!!”_

_The crowd burst into an incredible din of shouting and applause, but Keith only had eyes for one person. Only yards away from him was Lance across the pitch, smiling at Keith with the largest, happiest grin he had ever laid eyes on. They flew their brooms towards each other and towards the ground. As soon as Keith was close enough, he dismounted his broom to land on soft grass and found himself sprinting to meet with Lance._

_Lance was doing the same and in that small moment, that very short amount of time before they embraced, Keith understood everything. He understood why Lance’s laughter filled him with so much happiness he couldn’t stand it, why the brightness of Lance’s eyes made his chest ache terribly, and why the full-hearted smile Lance was wearing right then was dispelling all the darkness that had ever invaded Keith’s soul. It was so, so simple and just so_ true _\--he was in love with Lance._

 _He was_ in love _with Lance. So much so that he couldn’t believe he was ever able to deny it, but if he was able to before, he certainly couldn’t now. He was in love with Lance and nothing was ever going to be the same._

_When they collided, Keith just remembered holding onto Lance so tight that he worried he’d never let go, but Lance was embracing him just as tightly, and when Lance pressed a light kiss to his temple, Keith felt the love in his chest grow a hundred times, a thousand times--so large and all-encompassing he thought the feeling would swallow him whole._

_“We did it, Keith! We did it!” Lance said in Keith’s ear through his laughter and Keith was at a loss for words, so he just laughed back until their entire team came running to tackle them into a group hug._

 

_It wasn’t until the next day that Keith saw what his patronus had transformed into. Freaking out, the first thing he did was find Shiro and beg for answers._

_When Keith conjured his new sea lion patronus, Shiro looked on at it like a muggle that had seen a ghost._

_Panicking, Keith asked, “What does it mean, Shiro?”_

_Shiro looked at Keith with soft, sympathetic eyes and put a hand on his shoulder._

_“Keith, I--” he started, looking away to search for the words, but then finding them and looking at Keith once again, “I think you know what it means_. _”_

_And he did. Of course, he did._

 

The whole next year had been a constant war within himself--one part of him so terrified of loving someone so deeply that he tried to squash the emotions down into submission, while another part of him was so consumed by the feeling that the words threatened to spill out of him everytime Lance so much as smiled at him.

It didn’t matter now, though, because Keith had made his decision and he wasn’t going to keep holding himself captive anymore.

Taking a deep breath, Keith let the power of the memory flood his mind and fill him up. He remembered the exact moment the commentator had said they won, remembered flying towards Lance, remembered Lance’s brighter-than-the-sun smile directed at him-- _just_ for him, and he said the words with steady conviction.

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

Easily, a silver-white sea lion formed from his wand and lit up the room with more light than the stars and candles combined. She swam through the air happily and with grace, spinning in corkscrews like she was thriving in the open ocean.

 _I did it_ , Keith thought, heart about to burst from his chest. _I did it and now he knows. He knows, he knows, he knows._

Taking a small breath, Keith found one last morsel of courage and turned to look at Lance to see his reaction, knowing this was where he’d get his answer.

But Lance wasn’t looking at him.

Instead, his eyes were on the patronus. Lance watched the sea lion with his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open, not making a sound. Keith carefully looked over Lance’s face to find any hint of what was going on in his mind and all he could gather was that he was surprised. Was he happy? Sad? Completely freaked out? Keith couldn’t say.

With the deed done, Keith felt his nerves manifest themselves into a slight tremor that overtook his entire body, like he’d drank two cups of coffee an hour ago, because Keith had gotten to a point where he never thought he’d be--waiting for an answer.

 _Please,_ he thought. _Please, let him feel the same._

It wasn’t a thought Keith had ever let himself have before. When it came to confessing, Keith had always assumed Lance would gently let him down, and he had resigned himself to that. All he wanted out of the confession was some peace and to maybe make Lance smile, but _now_ , now he was just filled with cruel hope that this might go his way after all.

Because, merlin, Keith wanted Lance. Keith wanted Lance to be his  _so bad_ that it hurt in all the worst _and_ best ways.

 _Please_ , he prayed.

Finally, Keith’s sea lion faded away into nothingness and the room grew dim and quiet--deafeningly quiet.

Lance, no longer distracted by the patronus, snapped his head to look at Keith and Keith felt himself straighten as their eyes locked. There was something shining in Lance’s eyes, but Keith couldn’t figure out what it was. Keith couldn’t figure out anything because his mind was so fuzzy with anticipation and _Lance_ that all he could do was wait for a reaction from him.

For a long few seconds, they just stared at each other in the gentle quiet and Keith’s heart was fluttering in his chest so fast it was either going to fly out of his chest or break down altogether.

Without warning, Lance’s face scrunched into a pained expression as he bit his lip and then, abruptly, let out an erratic sound that was half-laugh, half-sob. One of Lance’s hands flew up to his forehead as he let out more choked noises that Keith had no name for. Lance was smiling, but then his face sometimes flicked back into that pained expression and Keith had no idea what to make of it.

“Lance?” Keith asked, worried.

Keith’s voice seemed to bring Lance back to his senses somewhat as he was able to look at Keith and forced himself to take big gulps of air.

“Sorry! Sorry, I just--” he started, but let out a breath of laughter, “I just can’t believe--I--”  

He paused and approached Keith with a smile even more dazzling than the one on the quidditch pitch a year ago, and pressed his palms to Keith’s cheeks. Keith’s eyes widened at the touch and his cheekbones burned from where Lance’s thumbs lightly brushed them, while his heart and stomach flipped positions in his torso.

“Lance?”

“Keith. _Keith!_ Oh my god, you have no idea--I’ve just been--! Merlin, I can’t even speak. Just let me--” Lance said, his eyes sparkling and excited, but leaving Keith in a confused stupor. Lance pulled away quickly and Keith’s cheeks felt cold without Lance’s hands there to warm them.

Lance reached for his own wand and faced the mostly empty room. He cleared his throat and with a clear, powerful voice he said, “ _Expecto Patronum!”_

With a flash of the same silver-white smoke that made up Keith’s sea lion, Lance’s patronus emerged--full-bodied and glowing, but Keith instantly knew it was different. Normally, Lance’ sea lion burst forth from his wand to dive into the air, but this patronus fell heavy to the ground and stalked around the room with a steely strength.

It took him several seconds, but Keith finally recognized the animal--a red wolf, just like Keith’s patronus before it changed. It hit him hard and fast--Lance had _his_ patronus, and Keith had Lance’s.

Keith’s feet were moving before his brain could stop him. With a new spring of courage, Keith came flying at Lance, who had now turned back to him with a smile that clearly said “Hey! Hey! Did you see?”

 _He has my patronus, he has my patronus, he has_ my _patronus,_ his mind repeated on a loop. Keith knew there was only one reason for a patronus to transform like that and it filled Keith up with so much love for Lance, he couldn’t keep it in anymore.

Grabbing both of Lance’s biceps, Keith stared hard into Lance’s eyes which shifted from being wrinkled by a smile to something softer, more vulnerable and Lance’s hands clutched at Keith’s elbows.

Before his bravery left him, Keith tilted his head and pressed a soft, brief kiss on Lance’s lips.

It was barely more than a peck, but it was long enough for Keith to feel electricity through the plushness of Lance’s lips and to feel Lance decidedly pressing back against his own.

And Keith felt dizzy and high and so full he was sure he’d explode.

Still clutching at their arms, they looked at each other in wonder until Keith felt emboldened anew.

“I love you,” he said, no longer afraid.

Lance’s eyes widened a fraction before settling into the fondest, gentlest look Keith had ever seen on him and he worried his bones would melt on the spot from it. Then, Lance’s hands were moving--one settled on Keith’s collarbone and the other under his chin. With a half-lidded look that sent Keith’s heart thundering in his chest, Lance tilted his chin and brought their lips together for the second time.

This one was a proper kiss--slow and languid with moving, interlocking lips and Lance’s burning fingertips brushing against Keith’s jaw. Keith sighed into the kiss and grabbed at Lance’s sides to bring them flush together. The movement made Lance let out a small, delighted noise as he snaked the hand that was on Keith’s collar bone to the nape of his neck and into his hair. Keith felt his whole body go up in flames by Lance’s gentle touches, and he welcomed the heat, welcomed every single nerve ending that singed from the contact of Lance’s heated lips and hands on him.

After several distracted moments, they pulled away slowly, but didn’t go far. Keith’s arms were wrapped around Lance’s waist and Lance’s arms were around Keith’s neck, while their foreheads pressed gently together. Lance was looking into Keith’s eyes, his own dazed and dreamy, while an easy smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

“Me too,” he said, voice softer and sweeter than a whisper. “I love you too. For so long. Never thought you’d feel the same.”

Keith could cry. He really could.

“Stupid,” he started, matching Lance’s voice, “how could I not love you?”

Lance let out a pained, shocked sound and buried his head in Keith’s shoulder.

“I can’t believe you said that.”

“Why not? It’s true.”

This time, Lance let out a frustrated growl and stepped back from Keith to cross his arms. Keith missed him instantly.

“Do you _always_ have to one-up me? I had this whole, big romantic gesture planned! I was gonna take you up to the astronomy tower, show you my patronus, confess my undying feelings for you and totally make you _swoon_ , but _nooo,_ you had to take me to this magic romance room with the candles and the stars and _your_ patronus! Then, you just _drop a line like that_?! No way, man. No fair,” Lance said, gesticulating wildly as his face colored in the darkest blush Keith had ever seen on him.

Keith looked on at him, completely stupefied. The last five minutes were a lot to unpack. Not once did Keith consider that Lance might like him back, let alone _love_ him back, so this was all coming as a bit of a shock. Lance was in love with him and had been for a long time? Lance was planning on confessing at the astronomy tower too? He wanted to make Keith _swoon_? But Keith was stealing his thunder? Keith’s cheeks heated and he moved his hand over his mouth to try and hide some of his blush.

With his head finally coming down from the high of their first kisses, Keith’s mind was finally wrapping around the fact that Lance was blushing because of _him_ and the things _he_ said. The thought sent a bolt of daring through his system.

Keith, confidence mixing easily with his pure elation, sent Lance a dangerous smirk as he lowered his hand from his face.

“Sorry, gotta be quick next time,” he said, his voice going lower. Lance shot him a glare and slammed his fists down at his sides with his face scrunched in a pout.

“Oh, yeah? How’s this for quick?” He asked, marching up to Keith and stabbing a finger at his chest. “Move in with me.”

“I--wait, _what_?!”

“You heard me.”

“No, I heard you, but I mean-- _what?!_ We just--it’s been like five minutes, Lance!”

“No, it hasn’t! It’s been seven years.”

“Lance, we just told each other--”

“That we love each other,” Lance finished, his face determined and serious. Keith blinked at him, the small moment of clarity he had earlier gone in a puff of smoke.

“ _Lance_.”

Lance, still with fire behind his eyes, took one of Keith’s hands, interlaced their fingers, and held them close to his chest.

“I’m in love with you, you’re in love with me. That’s what this means, right?” Lance asked, so serious it was unlike him.

“Y-yeah, of course, it does, Lance, but--”

“But what? We’re in love, you’re training to be an Auror in _London_ , I’m training be to a healer in _London_ , we’ve been living together for seven years--”

“Lance--”

“I already know all your weird habits, like how you barely sleep, you never wash your face, you have the _worst_ bed head--”

“Lance, we haven’t even--”

“It doesn’t matter what we haven’t done, Keith! I know you and I’ve been losing my mind the past couple months trying to imagine not waking up next to you every single day and it _sucks_ , but it doesn’t have to--”

Mid-sentence, Lance stopped. It was as if someone had just overturned a bucket of cold water onto him and the sensation had frozen the words in his throat.

“Lance?” Keith asked, tightening his grip around Lance’s hand.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lance started, shaking his head from side-to-side, “I know I must be coming on pretty strong, but I guess I just got panicked because we graduate _tomorrow_ and I-I’ve been thinking about this a lot and it just makes _sense_ and I know I’d hate not seeing you every day, but I get if you wanna take things slow...”

For about the hundredth time that night, Keith felt his heart swell with unfathomable affection for the person in front of him. Lance was looking at his shoes with their hands still pressed against his chest and Keith felt a small smile bloom on his face.

Gently, Keith moved their hands from Lance’s chest to his own and pressed a lingering kiss to Lance’s cheek.

Pulling away, Lance looked at him with surprised eyes as Keith looked up at him with the same soft smile.

“Okay,” Keith said.

“Okay?”

“Let’s do it.”

Lance looked at him for several seconds with big eyes until finally, his face cracked into another giant smile.

“Wait, you mean it?! You really want to? I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything! I know this is kinda fast and all, but I really think--”

Keith cut him off with a kiss that surprised Lance for just a moment before he melted into it, his sentence dying in his throat. Separating, Lance stared at him with a dumbfounded expression that made him look like a cartoon character that had been hit over the head with an anvil.

“I really want to,” Keith said, hoping his sincerity was clear, because Lance was _right_. This stage of their relationship might have been new, but they _knew_ each other, lived with each other for years, and they were in love. The solution was simple.

“Seriously?!” Lance asked, taking his hand back so he could grab Keith by the shoulders.

Laughing, Keith answered, “seriously.”

Full of joy, Lance grabbed Keith in a big bear hug, lifting him up off his feet and spinning him around for good measure.

“Oh my god, Keith! You won’t regret it, it’s gonna be so awesome. I already have ideas for decorating, and we can cook all the time, and have Hunk and Pidge over on the holidays, oh and I really wanna get some succulents or something, like _muggle_ succulents, y’know?” Lance asked, before putting Keith down and wrapping his arms around Keith’s shoulders for another close embrace.

“Succulents sound good,” Keith said, curling his own arms around Lance’s middle and feeling the way his arms rose and fell with every one of Lance’s breaths. They held each other in a content, comfortable silence for several moments, both of them letting their minds absorb the incredible life-changing event that just occured between them.

And it really _was_ life-changing. Suddenly, Keith was _loved_ and they were going to look for flats together, because they wanted a _life_ together. It was so strange--having your whole world change so fast, but for the better. It wasn’t something Keith was used to, but he felt that if he was with Lance, he could eventually.

Suddenly, the future was full of hope and blue eyes and he was looking forward to it. Suddenly, graduation didn’t seem so scary.

“You know,” Lance started, voice so quiet, Keith wondered if he even wanted him to hear it, “whenever I conjure my patronus, you’re my happiest memory…”

Keith felt another blush rise to the back of his neck, but he couldn’t help but smile into Lance’s shoulder at the confession. It was all still so hard to believe that someone could reciprocate his feelings like this.

Keith pressed a quick kiss at the base of Lance’s neck and held him even tighter in his arms as the stars continued to glitter above them, shining down and mingling with the gentle light of the floating candles in the corners of the room.

In a ghost of a voice, Keith whispered, “And you’re mine.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was so self-indulgent and fluffy but i needed a break from Dark Blue's angst and I wanted to jump on the gryffindor klance train because that's just correct i'm sorry. The title is from "Cosmic Love" by Florence + the Machine and i'm sure this is the 6657 fic named that but TOO BAD. 
> 
> shout out to [Emma](https://riptidelance.tumblr.com/) for once again being such an awesome and thorough beta. Seriously, you're the best <3
> 
> Also to [Brigid](http://angst-in-space.tumblr.com/) for helping me figure out their patronuses! It was a grueling process...ANYWAY READ BRIGID'S FIC SHE'S AMAZING!!!!
> 
> UPDATE: So I've gotten a couple people make some incredible art for this fic!  
> 1.) @livdoodles on twitter drew this beautiful piece of [Keith and Lance embracing with their patronuses](https://twitter.com/Iivsdoodles/status/972684611477159936)  
> 2.) @MoiraRmz7 on twitter made this really lovely piece with [Keith and Lance stargazing in the room of requirement ](https://twitter.com/MoiraRmz7/status/982455266582020097)
> 
> If you ever feel like making art of this fic please let me know so I can feature it here!! <3
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments and thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> Links: [Tumblr](http://parchmints.tumblr.com/) | [Twitter](https://twitter.com/parchmints) | [caard](https://parchmints.carrd.co/) | [my klance fics](https://archiveofourown.org/works?utf8=%E2%9C%93&commit=Sort+and+Filter&work_search%5Bsort_column%5D=revised_at&include_work_search%5Brelationship_ids%5D%5B%5D=276512&work_search%5Bother_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bexcluded_tag_names%5D=&work_search%5Bcrossover%5D=&work_search%5Bcomplete%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_from%5D=&work_search%5Bwords_to%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_from%5D=&work_search%5Bdate_to%5D=&work_search%5Bquery%5D=&work_search%5Blanguage_id%5D=&user_id=parchmints)


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